Saturday, February 25, 2006

Ah, hypocrisy--or maybe just plain old-fashioned cowardice. Al Gore is on the board of Apple Computer, and he won't raise his voice on behalf of the Computer Take-back Campaign to buck the spirited and scornful opposition of Steve Jobs to their efforts to get the computer maker to take back computers that have reached the end of their useful lives, so that end users don't have to throw them away in the landfills.

Some perspective: I've known for some time that computers contain toxic materials--and I have never liked to throw away an electronic device. I welcome any deal whereby I can turn in a junky computer--at least after I've hit the end of the road with various distributions of Linux that can still get some useful life out of some of them. So frankly, I can't understand why Steve Jobs dismisses a concern that his customers are raising. If Michael Dell and the current head of HP/Compaq can take back junk computers, so can he.

But about Al Gore: Why won't he raise his voice with Mr. Jobs? Why does he, who ranted and raved and screamed at the top of his lungs,

HE BETRAYED HIS COUNTRY! HE! PLAYED! ON! OUR! FEARS!

now refuse even to ask Mr. Jobs politely why he doesn't take back old computers? Quite apart from the embarrassment that Mr. Jobs might spare himself (I mean, surely it does his brand name no good to see it remain attached to a bunch of forlorn-looking discards in a garbage yard!), why does a former Vice President raise his voice where it can do some good? Inquiring minds want to know...